Does Dr. Craig equivocate the phrase
"begins to exist"?
What is the "Fallacy of Equivocation"?
(part 7 of 10) Apparently, some atheists think so. In this series of videos, Dr. William Lane Craig dismantles and defuses 10 supposed objections of the Kalam Cosmological Argument, which posits GOD as the Personal First Cause of the universe.
He refers to these as the "10 Worst Objections to the Kalam Cosmological Argument", and proceeds to make short work out of all of them. This is a great video series for you to get your mind around so that you will be able to answer these hollow objections for what they are - uninformed opinions.
Have an Intelligent Faith! (1 Pet 3:15)
- Pastor J.
This comment isn't directly related to the Kalam argument, but I think meaningful to consider because of its philosophical implications as directly related to theological meaning.
ReplyDeleteI think the sheer size of the universe is God's way of indicating to us the true meaning of eternity, using a material example. In other words, the vastness of space is an easy analogy to understand as it pertains to endless time. I don't think I've personally heard it put this way, but as Ecclesiastes schools us, "There is nothing new under the sun."
The opposite parallel to this analogy is to think of the cell, human or otherwise. The cell, of course, is the structural unit of all known living organisms. A human body contains approximately 10 trillion cells. How many stars and planets exist in the universe? Well, no one actually knows, but if we rounded it off at 10 trillion, we would likely get few objections. So, in turn, the cell is the micro example of the vastness of the universe - and contained in one living person!
So God has given us two material examples (the macro and the micro) of what he wants us to know about the idea of eternity, by means of sheer numbers! And, as humans, we all understand numbers.
And the sheer numbers, in terms of living cells, should give us a clear indication of how wonderfully we are made. Ya think?
So I think this is a nice way to understand the idea of eternal time, by means of material examples we all can clearly understand.
As far as the Kalam argument is concerned, and as Dr. Craig tries his best to convey it, but not always with much luck, I can only step aside and point out what I heard Alvin Plantinga once say about atheists, "Their cognitive faculties don't work correctly." I don't think I've heard it said any better. Cheers, Alvin.